Aaron Woods has had enough of talking about the next coach of the Wests Tigers, but admits he is embracing the challenge of leading his teammates through a turbulent period.
In the strongest sign yet that the off-contract prop could be committing to re-signing with the club, Woods revealed the satisfaction he gets from taking bullets for the black and gold.
Whether it's the Tim Simona betting scandals, allegations of a drug culture at the club, or the axing of Jason Taylor, Woods made the eye-catching admission that he revels in the drama.
"It's the part I enjoy about being captain. Things get thrown at you, you get a few curveballs here and there but that's life in general," he said after the Tigers' 22-14 loss to Melbourne.
"Not everything's going to go your way. It's how you react and come out of those situations.
"At the moment we've got a few curveballs come our way, but it's how we're going to get the boys out of this situation and the way I can lead them."
Nonetheless, when asked whether he hoped the club's search for a new coach would be resolved quickly, Woods said: "I don't even want to talk about it. I just want to play some footy."
His comments came after the Tigers began the post-Taylor era by throwing away a 14-0 lead against the Storm in an emotional loss at Leichhardt Oval.
Woods believes the marked improvement from the 82 points they had conceded in back-to-back losses showed a resilience in the playing group in light of the off-field dramas.
He urged his teammates to back up their effort against St George-Illawarra next week.
"It was a big week, but the boys have been really good. Everything else outside of football stuff is out of our control. All we can control is what we do on the field," Woods said.
"We just wanted to play 80 minutes of just good footy. A couple of things we'd love to change now but we have to learn from that and move onto next week.
"It's easy to get up for these sort of games, but it's how we're going to react for next week when it dies down a bit and we've just got to work hard for each other."
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